


she's got lips like wine not sugar

by IzzyAguecheek



Series: falling in love in  a coffee shop [1]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, F/F, Fluff, coffee shop AU, it's literally just some lesbians and some lattes y'all, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 08:00:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25900078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IzzyAguecheek/pseuds/IzzyAguecheek
Summary: The coffee shop was mostly empty the first time Allison came in. It was too early for most people, specially on a Sunday, when most people didn’t have work and therefore didn’t need to stop by to grab a coffee to wake up. Allison, however, didn’t strike Renee as the type of girl to drink coffee before a shift at some boring company. She looked more like someone who had stayed up all night and now was trying to fight off a hangover with caffeine.Dan was late, per usual, so Renee and Andrew were the only employees working. Andrew took one look at the car parked outside, right in front of the window, and firmly turned his back on the girl sitting at the corner booth.“You take that one”, he decided.(or: Renee works at a coffee shop, and, when Allison becomes a regular there, she is absolutely in love. It's just a Renison Coffee Shop AU.)
Relationships: Allison Reynolds/Renee Walker (All For The Game), Background Andrew Minyard/Neil Josten, Renison - Relationship, minor Allison Reynolds/Seth Gordon
Series: falling in love in  a coffee shop [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1879579
Comments: 4
Kudos: 41





	she's got lips like wine not sugar

**Author's Note:**

> I was bed ridden with incredible pain, so I decided to write the lesbian AFTG content I always craved to make myself feel better. It was supposed to be short and I was supposed to have finished this a month ago, then it turned out to have 20 pages and I finished it today in a great deal of EXISTENTIAL pain, so. Yay! It be like that sometimes.
> 
> ALSO: I know (or I THINK I know bc i read it in fanfiction) in coffee shops in the US, you order at the counter and THEN go to the table with your order, but in Brazilian and French cafés (my only real experiences) you sit first and someone comes to take your order, and I was halfway through the fic when I realized what I'd done, and didn't feel like changing it, so?? Pretend its a French café in the middle of North Carolina idk
> 
> This was not beta'd at all and english is not my first language, so there are probably some mistakes. Please do let me know if you find any!!
> 
> Title from "She's So Lovely" by The Butchies, because it's very gay and I love it and I listened to it on repeat while writing this.

The coffee shop was mostly empty the first time Allison came in. It was too early for most people, specially on a Sunday, when most people didn’t have work and therefore didn’t need to stop by to grab a coffee to wake up. Allison, however, didn’t strike Renee as the type of girl to drink coffee before a shift at some boring company. She looked more like someone who had stayed up all night and now was trying to fight off a hangover with caffeine.

Dan was late, per usual, so Renee and Andrew were the only employees working. Andrew took one look at the car parked outside, right in front of the window, and firmly turned his back on the girl sitting at the corner booth.

“You take that one”, he decided.

Renee didn’t bother arguing with him. She tried to convince herself it was because there was no winning an argument against Andrew Minyard, and not because she desperately wanted an excuse to talk to the girl.

The girl barely looked up when Renee approached her with her best costume service smile. She just ordered a latte and a few doughnuts, and slid her credit card across the table carelessly, not even bothering to check the prices on the menu above the counter. The one time she actually looked at Renee was when Renee asked her her name.

“Excuse me?”

Her eyes were a cold blue that was as scary as it was entrancing. Renee had to try her best not to freeze on spot.

“I asked for your name”, she repeated, calmly, still smiling. “So we can call you when your order gets ready.”

Allison narrowed her eyes at her, considering. Renee didn’t know what was going through her mind, but she wished she had brushed her hair a little more carefully that morning.

“Right”, the girl said. “Allison. It's Allison.”

Renee wrote it down besides her order, said the usual polite things and walked away, back to behind the counter, where Andrew was staring at her with a narrowed eye expression weirdly similar to Allison's.

“What?” Renee asked, trying not to sound exasperated.

“This is not going to go well for you”, Andrew warned. Renee raised an eyebrow, smiling.

“Doing my job?”

Andrew rolled his eyes.

“Whatever you tell yourself, Walker.”

Renee decided to ignore him. She wasn't doing anything other than being a good employee. And she was  _definitely_ not staring at Allison until the moment she left the coffee shop.

Allison became a somewhat regular costumer during the weeks following this first appearance, and Renee admittedly paid a lot of attention to her. Of course she did. Allison spent obscene amounts of money on lattes and pastries, and drove a bright pink convertible that looked exactly like Barbie's car. She looked a lot like Barbie, too, tall, blonde and unbelievably beautiful. How on Earth could Renee not pay attention to that?

Besides, she was always around during Renee's shift, and Andrew still refused to take her order, so. Really, if Renee had learned her name too quickly, it was just because she was good at her job like that. She  _had_ to ask, after all. She had to write it down on the cup and everything. There was nothing wrong with learning the name of a loyal costumer, and that was all it was. Renee was sure of that. Despite what her useless coworkers seemed to believe.

Even thought she hadn’t been there on their first encounter, Dan had quickly caught up, and every time Allison walked into the café, she would flash Renee a knowing smile and disappear on the storage room, leaving only Andrew to stare at Renee judgmentally while she smiled at their new costumer. 

Andrew was the first one to say what Renee knew they were both thinking, during one particularly quiet morning, right before Allison had left. He was taking a smoke break, and Renee had joined him on the parking lot behind the coffee shop, because there weren’t many other costumers anyway and it was easier to hide her flustered face there. 

“You know”, Andrew said, while expertly lighting his cigarette. “You need to talk to her.”

Briefly, Renee considered playing dumb, but she knew Andrew could see right through her. 

“I talk to her”, she said, quietly. Andrew grimaced.

“Please, don’t.”

“Well, weren’t you the one that told me this would end badly?”

Andrew considered the question carefully.

“That is not what I said”, he decided. “I can’t make that decision for you. If you want to get your heart smashed by some random Barbie wannabe bitch, that’s your call.”

“Don’t call her a bitch. You don’t even know her.”

“Neither do you, and you never will, if you don’t stop being a fucking coward and ask her out.”

He wasn’t  _wrong,_ exactly, so Renee conceded, nodding. She couldn’t imagine asking that untouchable, aloof, extraordinarily attractive girl out just like that, though. Much less early in the morning, when Allison always looked so annoyed at something or hungover and Renee rarely had the time to actually sit down and chat. So, instead of making any promises – which she _knew_ Andrew would take way too seriously –, she said, softly:

“I’ll ask her out when you ask the cute redhead out.”

Andrew didn’t as much as blink.

“Who, Scar Face? Why the fuck would I do that?” He took a drag of his cigarette, and Renee tried not to grimace when the cold autumn wind blew the smoke towards her. “He’s an asshole.”

“And you just said Allison’s a bitch.”

“You like bitches. Me? Not so much.”

The backdoor opened behind them, revealing Dan, holding multiple trash bags. She walked past them on her way towards the trash cans, saying:

“You’re talking about the redhead guy? What’s his name, again?”

Renee looked at Andrew, who seemed annoyed.

“I don’t know. He always gives me a different one.”

Dan and Renee exchanged a smile, which didn’t seem to help in Andrew’s  mood . Dan closed the lids of the trashcans and made her way back to the door.

“How about  _your_ girl, Renee? Any progress?”

Renee could feel herself blushing.

“She’s not-”

“No progress”, Andrew said, sounding bored out of his mind. “She’s too chickenshit to say anything.”

“That’s not good”, Dan agreed. “Geez, you kids need to get your shit together, man. Fortune favors the brave and all.”

Before Renee could gently remind her that they were the same age, Andrew said:

“Fuck off, Wilds. Not everyone can be married with Big Foot at the age of twenty two.”

“That’s rude”, Dan said. “You two, get back inside. You’ve got work to do.”

As usual, Renee obeyed her, while Andrew flipped her off. He only came back inside half an hour later, coincidentally around the time a certain redhead walked in.

The day after that, the unavoidable finally happened: Renee embarrassed herself in front of Allison by saying her entire order, which contained about ten different items, before Allison could even wish her a good morning.

She hadn’t meant to; she didn’t even know if Allison had realized she was the only one who would take her order, and she was pretty sure most people would find it at least a bit weird that she had memorized it completely. By the way Allison looked at her, eyebrows raised and an almost amused smirk on her lips, she was right about that.

Renee could feel her face warming up with embarrassment, so she did her best to dismiss it as a perfectly normal thing to do, like she memorized all of their costumers’ orders. She kept the polite smile on her face and swallowed down an awkward giggle.

“So, did I get that right?”, she asked, clicking the pen she would use to write down any alterations. 

“That is a lot to get”, Allison pointed out. It was the longest interaction they’d ever had, and Renee was loosing her cool way too quickly. She shrugged.

“Yeah, you really like to have variety, huh?”

It was probably a stupid thing to say, but it got Allison to smile at her, so hey, whatever. Her smile wasn’t bright or warm; there was something smug about it that hit Renee right at the base of her spine. She got a feeling that Allison was used to being _noticed._

“I like to keep my options open”, she corrected, resting her chin on one hand, while drumming on the table with the nails of the other. Her nails were long, perfectly done and painted in a pink darker than her car, that matched her lipstick. Renee followed the movement with her eyes. There was something hypnotizing about those perfectly manicured hands. “You got it all right, though. Very impressive.”

“I’m just doing my job”, Renee said, trying not to sound too pleased with the compliment. “So, the usual, then?”

For a second, Allison just looked at her, silent, still tapping her nails on the desk lightly. Renee stared back, waiting and trying not to squirm under the scrutiny. The make-up around Allison’s eyes was smudged, black eyeliner forming a dark circle that made her icy blue irises seem even bluer and colder. It was the only part of her that wasn’t perfectly immaculate and flawless. Renee couldn’t stop staring at it. She imagined Allison rubbing a hand on her eyes, tired from a night out and not enough coffee. Maybe she had been crying?  _That_ was hard to imagine.

Then, Allison pulled her back to reality by saying:

“You know what? Surprise me.”

Renee blinked stupidly at her for a second, then forced the costumer service smile back on her face.

“Alright, then”, she said. Her hands were decidedly shaking at this point. “I’ll be right back with your order.”

She tried not to run away, but she wasn’t so sure she had been successful.

Dan was behind the counter, so she was the first to hear about the conversation. Her reaction was exactly what Renee expected it to be.

“You need to send her a message”, she said. Renee smiled.

“Dan, I need to send her coffee and some pastries.”

Dan looked over to where Allison was sitting, checking something on her phone, and Renee prayed she wouldn’t look up and catch them staring.

“What about you write your number on the cup? No, wait a minute, that’s not right. You could do that on any ordinary day” Dan looked around, and her face lit up when her eyes rested on the heart shaped doughnuts on display. “How about…”

“Dan”, Renee interrupted her, quietly. “I’m just going to pick out some things I think she might like, okay? Let’s not get crazy.”

With a sigh, Dan relented, albeit reluctantly.

“You’re missing an opportunity here, I’ll tell you that.”

Renee didn’t mind. She couldn’t picture Allison as someone who would fall for a heart shaped pastry, anyway. She was sure that, if Andrew wasn’t away taking orders, he would’ve agreed with her.

Still, she spent way more time picking Allison’s order than she probably should have. She made sure to pick the exact same amount of items as her usual order and to keep it within a similar price range – not that Allison ever seemed worried about the cost of what she was buying, and it was difficult to imagine her not being able to pay, with a car like that, but Renee didn’t want to make assumptions. She picked a few of her own favorite pastries, some things that she knew other costumers loved, and kept a few of Allison’s original requests, just in case. It seemed like an unnecessary amount of effort, but Renee couldn’t help herself.

When she finally walked back to Allison’s table, Allison gave her a smile that seemed almost teasing.

“So, what’ve you got for me?”

Awkwardly, Renee explained what each thing was, trying to avoid Allison’s amused gaze. Then, before she could really embarrass herself, she said:

“That’s all. Hope you enjoy it!” She smiled. “I’ll be over there if you need anything else.”

Then, she left. This time, Andrew was alone behind the counter, the way he was leaning over the counter top betraying his interest in the scene, despite the bored look on his face.

“Missed opportunity, Walker”, he said. Renee sighed.

“Please, shut up”, she asked, softly, suddenly feeling very tired.

A week later, Renee found out she was very happy for not having listened to Dan’s stupid suggestion, because, for the first time, Allison didn’t go to the coffee shop alone. She went with this really tall, really angry looking guy, and the way they were making out at their table – well. It didn’t take a genius to figure out there was something happening there.

Dan had called in sick that entire week, so it was just Andrew and Renee standing by the counter, staring at the couple. Andrew seemed completely disgusted by their display of heterosexual affection, and Renee was just trying not to let the disappointment and the sudden need to listen to sad songs show on her face. She felt like she should’ve expected that; after all,  the line of people trying to conquer a girl like Allison was probably so long that it would go around the block twice.

Finally, Andrew said:

“You have to go tell them to stop that.”

Renee looked at him, horrified.

“Me?” She was aware that she sounded a little more desperate than the situation  really demanded, but, well. Despite what everyone seemed to think, she could only stay calm and collected up to a certain point. “Andrew, can’t you go? Please?”

For a second, Renee was sure he was going to say no, but after looking her in the eyes for a while, he said:

“Fine.”

On his way around the counter, he casually reached for a butter knife that was sitting on the counter top, without even looking at it. Renee was faster, and pulled the knife away from his reach, sighing.

“Nevermind. I’ll do it.”

She walked up to the table slowly, hoping to get herself together on the way. No such luck. Renee had to clean her throat three times before the couple let go of each other for long enough to look at her, Allison looking amused, the guy looking annoyed.

“Hi”, Renee said, unsure. “I’m, uh, sorry to interrupt, but we’ve been getting some… complaints?” The complaints had mostly been Andrew’s and Renee’s own broken heart’s, but they didn’t need to know that. “So I’ve been asked to ask you guys to maybe tone it down a little. Sorry.”

Allison and the guy laughed at each other, like this was hilarious and wasn’t making Renee want to quit her job to go listen to Hayley Kiyoko in the dark for the rest of whatever was left of her life.

“Of course”, Allison said. Despite all the aggressive kissing, her lipstick remained flawless. It was red today. Of  _course_ it was. One of those days, Renee was going to _die,_ and it would all be Allison’s perfect red lips’ fault. “Family establishment and all.”

The guy giggled. Renee realized her teeth were clenched and forced herself to relax, trying to remember what her foster mom had taught her when she was a kid with deep anger control issues. 

“Thank you for your understanding” Her voice still sounded a little strained, but it was better than punching the wall or crying, so whatever. “Are you guys ready to order?”

“Well, I’ll have my usual. You already proved you know what that is” Allison smiled at her before turning to the guy besides her. “What do you want, Seth?” He just shrugged, so she turned back to Renee. “He’ll have a coffee. Black, large, no sugar.”

Promising she’d be right back, Renee went to get their food, except she didn’t do that. Instead, she told Andrew:

“Can you get their order, please? I need to go scream in the back.”

Andrew didn’t seem at all concerned with her unusual drama.

“I thought you’d want to spit in his coffee, at least.”

Renee sighed.

“Please, Andrew, don’t spit on anyone’s coffee. Or stab them. I’ll be right back, okay?”

Outside, she didn’t scream, knowing people would hear it inside, but she did take a deep breath and a moment to get herself back under control. Renee thought that the worst part was that she would never know if she had missed her chance, or if she had never had a chance to begin with.

During the next month or so, the guy – Seth, apparently – also became a loyal costumer to the coffee shop. Dan took his and Allison’s table when she could, but Renee was very gay and very stupid and very much in love, so she would still do it most of the time, because apparently the occasional smiles Allison would throw her way were worth the inconvenience of having to see her making out with some dude. 

They weren’t always making out, though. Sometimes, they would get into these huge arguments, that often led to yelling and to one of them storming out. It was usually Allison, it seemed, which led Renee to think it was mostly Seth’s fault, but then again, maybe she just  _wanted_ to believe that. After those fights, Seth would disappear for a couple days, and Allison would sit alone at her usual table again. 

Renee didn’t take any comfort or joy in those days. It was bad having to watch the couple make out in front of everyone, but it was worse seeing Allison look so down. Her make-up was still perfect, and her nails were still done, but Renee could see the tension along her shoulders and the distracted way she would order, like her mind was elsewhere. Often, she wouldn’t even look at her phone  like she did before ; she’d just stare out of the window absently. 

The extra pastries were probably a bad idea. It was easy enough to get away with it, both because her manager was Dan and because Allison didn’t say what her order was anymore. She just asked for “the usual”. If she ever noticed Renee added an extra muffin or doughnut every now and then, she would probably just assumed she had gotten the order mixed up or forgotten about the quantities of each thing. Renee doubted she was paying enough attention to realize it only happened on the days she looked like she was feeling particularly sad.

“You know what you should also put in her order?” Andrew asked one day, a few weeks into this whole ordeal. Renee smiled softly.

“Don’t say my phone number.”

“Fine. But I think you’d be doing her a favor. That boyfriend of hers is an ass.”

Secretly, Renee wanted to agree with him, but she just said:

“We don’t know that. We can’t judged them based on anything we know.” She raised an eyebrow. “How’s it going with your redhead, by the way?”

“Last name he gave me was André”, Andrew answered. “I hate him.”

“Sure you do”, Renee agreed, suppressing a smile.

They were nearing Christmas when the worst fight yet happened. Luckily, it was late, almost closing time when it happened, so there weren’t a lot of costumers to witness the yelling and the drama; it was only Dan’s boyfriend, Matt, an old man that seemed to have fallen asleep and Andrew’s nameless redhead, who was wearing headphones and didn’t seem at all alarmed when Seth and Allison started arguing. 

To be honest, Renee wasn’t alarmed either, at least at first. Andrew had gone outside to smoke, and she was helping Dan clean up in the back when the argument started. It didn’t seem any different from all the fights they’d already had there, so she tried not to pay attention to it, even though Dan immediately went back to the counter to take a look at the scene. 

“That doesn’t look good”, Renee heard her murmur, and sighed internally. She knew she was going to follow her. 

When Renee got to the counter, Allison and Seth were standing up, their faces only a few inches away.

“You are such an inconsiderate asshole”, Allison was yelling, her manicured hands clutching her coffee cup tightly. “I honestly don’t know how a single person can be so full of shit.”

“Oh, that’s rich, coming from you”, Seth shot back. “Maybe if you weren’t such a cold blooded bitch-”

He didn’t finish the sentence. As soon as the content of Allison’s cup hit his face, he went silent and very still, and so did the rest of the coffee shop – well, the part that was paying attention to it, so Dan, Renee and Matt. Andrew’s redhead looked up from whatever he was doing, but as soon as he saw there was no immediate crisis, he lost interest.

Then, Allison broke the silence by laughing. It was mean type of laughter, humorless and mocking, and while Renee would probably always take Allison’s side, she couldn’t blame Seth from palling in anger at that sound. When he went back to yelling, though, louder and angrier than before, she knew that wouldn’t end well. Allison yelled right back, and they both looked they were ready to get into a physical fight; it was hard to know who would strike first. That was what finally woke Renee from the weird trance she’d been watching the scene in.

Before she could even think about, she had already made her way to where Allison and Seth were standing and put herself between them, facing Seth. She was sure Allison was as likely to draw first blood as he was, but she didn’t linger on that thought too much.

“I think you should leave”, she said, calmly. Seth snickered.

“Yeah, right. She throws  _her_ coffee on me, and  _I_ should leave.”

“You’re making quite a scene”, Renee told him firmly, raising her chin to stare at him. Seth was much taller than her, but she was sure that wouldn’t be a problem. “So please, sir, I will have to ask you to leave this establishment.”

Seth looked at her, clearly sizing her up, and Renee sustained his gaze. She didn’t think he would hit Allison, not really, but she thought there might be a chance he would try to push her out of the way, so she tried to be ready for that. Seth was a big guy; he was probably used to his conflicts going his way, and with people feeling threatened by him. Renee, on her part, was used to being underestimated. If things escalated, she was sure of who would get the worst end of it.

Behind Seth, she saw Dan’s boyfriend starting to stand up, and subtly shook his head at him. Matt hesitated, but he knew her enough to back down. However, Renee knew that Andrew would come back at any moment, and there was no telling  _that_ dog not to bite; it would be best if she could end this quickly, and preferentially peacefully.

“I’m asking you politely”, she said, low enough that only Seth and Allison could hear her. “Let’s not make this any worse than it has to be.”

“Get out”, Allison said. Renee wanted her to be quiet – she was sure her intervention was only going to make things worse –, but something told her that telling Allison to be quiet was not a mistake she could afford to make right now. “Just go. This is over. There’s nothing else to talk about.”

Seth looked at her, and, for a moment, Renee could see so much pain in his eyes that she genuinely felt bad for him. Then, he scoffed, shaking his head.

“Great. At least you get the fucking bill.”

Then, he turned around and stormed out, knocking into the old man’s table and startling him awake on his way.

There was a moment of tense silence in which Renee carefully took a step away from Allison and turned around to look at her. Allison didn’t seem nearly as shaken as Renee was expecting her to be. She looked at the coffee spilled all over the floor and said:

“Ah, geez. Sorry about the mess.”

Renee felt a pang of hurt for not having her intervention acknowledged, and reprimanded herself. Allison had just very dramatically broken up with her boyfriend, thrown coffee on his face and had a random stranger offer to fight him for her. She had more important things to process right now.

Still, a “thank you” would be nice. Renee didn’t like acknowledging how much she appreciated being the knight in shining armor type.

“No problem”, Renee said, forcing a smile that she hoped would be reassuring. “I’ll clean it up right away.”

She walked back to where Dan was standing with her mouth open.

“What the  _fuck_ was that?”, she asked. Renee shrugged and tried not to feel the sudden embarrassment she always felt after nearly slipping into her old self, the one that was  well familiar with bruised fingers and the taste of blood.

“Nothing. Get me a mop, would you?”

Andrew came back at some point when Renee was moping up the floor near Allison’s table, and Renee could see his expression change when Dan told him about what had happened. It was a small alteration, nothing that other people would be able to pick up on, but Renee knew him well enough to know that Andrew was proud of her. The thought made her smile.

Ten minutes and a lot of consideration later, Renee was back to Allison’s table to place a fresh cup of latte on top of it. Allison raised her eyes to her slowly.

“I didn’t order that”, she observed. Renee shrugged.

“It’s on the house. You didn’t get to drink yours, and it seems like you’ve had a rough day” She made a pause. “I, uh, we all thought you deserved an extra coffee.”

Allison didn’t take her eyes off of Renee while pulling the cup closer, like she thought that it could be a joke. She took a sip and sighed.

“Thanks”, she said. “Mine had gone cold, anyway. That’s why I did it. I wouldn’t throw hot coffee on him, I’m not a  _complete_ psychopath.”

Renee smiled, raising her hand to show she wasn’t armed.

“Hey, no judgment. He seemed like a real jerk.”

Yeah, she  _knew_ she shouldn’t judge and all, but given that it was Allison’s ex-boyfriend they were talking about, she assumed it was a safe enough thing to say. God would just have to forgive her on this one. Allison scoffed, a small smile forming on her lips.

“Yeah. Thanks for kicking him out, by the way.”

“Oh, yeah, no problem. Anytime” Mentally, Renee kicked herself for being so stupid. “Uh, anyway, let me know if you need anything. I… We’d be happy to help however we can.”

Allison’s smile grew a little wider, and, this time, it wasn’t smug or cold or sarcastic. It just looked grateful.

“Right. I will.”

Renee hovered about the table for a bit longer, feeling the need to say something else but unable to come up with anything, before awkwardly making for the counter, where Andrew gave her an unimpressed look.

“I don’t think good Christians should be so turned on by Barbies throwing  _lattes_ on guys’ faces”, he said. Renee wanted to tell him she hadn’t been turned on by that at all, but she tried to keep her lying to a minimum, so she asked instead:

“What was today’s name? He seems to like the ones that start with N best.”

She wasn’t surprised at all when Andrew turned around and walked away. 

Predictably, Seth was nowhere to be seen for the next couple of weeks, and neither was Allison, at least not as much as Renee’d grown used to. It embarrassed her a bit to admit how much she missed her, and she wouldn’t ever consider admitting it to her coworkers – not that they needed her to. Dan was very comforting about it, giving her a friendly pat on her shoulder and saying that Allison was probably busy. Andrew, of course, was a bitch about it.

“That’s what you get for not giving her your number”, he said, on the third consecutive day of Allison’s absence. Renee didn’t have a good answer for him, not even a comeback about Redhead Boy. 

After a week of not seeing Allison at the coffee shop, Renee had started to conform to the possibility of never seeing her again. So, when she ran into Allison at a parking lot just outside the mall, she was so surprised she almost dropped her shopping bag. She froze, unsure of what to do next.

Allison was as impeccable as usual, in a dress that seemed to thin for that time of the year and the same red lipstick that had made Renee almost lose her mind the other day. She was carrying a lot of shopping bags in her arms, nothing like the single last minute Christmas shopping Renee had on her, and walking towards her car, which, yeah. Renee couldn’t believe she hadn’t noticed the shiny Barbie car earlier. 

It was an odd situation. They knew each other, technically, but Renee didn’t expect Allison to recognize, remember or acknowledge just some random barista she’d had a few random interactions with. It wasn’t like they were friends or anything. Renee had half a mind to turn around and run away before Allison noticed her, to avoid an awkward conversation, or, more likely, to avoid facing the fact that Allison wasn’t so obsessed with her as she was with Allison, something she knew, but had no intention on dwelling on any further.

She hesitated for too long, though. Soon, Allison had gotten close enough to recognize her – she wasn’t that easy to miss, after all, what with that colorful hair – and wave. It was a polite wave, a “hello, acquaintance” wave rather than a “hello, friend, come over and talk to me” one, but Renee realized that, either way, she’d have to walk past Allison’s car on her way to the exit. She did her best to act casual as she approached the other girl.

“Hi there”, she said, in a tone that would hopefully sound nice, but not like she was expecting to have a conversation, despite the fact she  _desperately_ wanted to have one. Allison’s smile told her she hadn’t really succeeded at that.

“Fancy seeing you here”, she replied, sounding amused. Then, much to Renee’s surprise: “Sorry, I didn’t catch your name. How rude of me, isn’t it? I mean, we see each other pretty much every day.”

Renee felt herself blush and prayed that Allison wouldn’t notice it in the dim light of the parking lot. She fervently wished she’d worn something prettier than jeans and an old orange sweater. 

“I’m Renee.”

“Renee” The way Allison said it made it sound like something completely different, like a riddle or a secret. Renee watched her red lips close around the name, knowing she was staring but unable to stop herself. “Good to officially meet you, I guess. I probably should’ve asked after you kicked my asshole ex-boyfriend out to defend my honor, but oh, well, guess I had other things in mind then.”

They stood in silence for a moment after that, and Renee wanted to ask Allison why she’d been missing from the coffee shop this past week, but she figured it was none of her business. She couldn’t think of anything else to say, so she raised her hand in an awkward wave.

“It was nice seeing you. See you at the coffee shop someday?”

It wasn’t meant to sound as a question. Allison analyzed her with the same icy gaze she’d given her the first time Renee had gotten her order right from memory, like she was considering her options, sizing Renee up for something like she was an expensive item Allison didn’t know if she wanted to buy or not. It felt weird; Renee was used to be the one analyzing people like that. 

She was also used to being underestimated, but something told her Allison could see right through her good Christian girl exterior to the twisted, longing, bloodier parts of her, and it didn’t bother her at all. In fact, maybe she even liked it. This felt even weirder.

Usually, Renee would’ve said something by now to interrupt the scrutiny and steer the conversation towards safe and polite subjects, but she just held Allison’s gaze and let her stare, refusing to look away despite how ridiculously flustered she felt.

“Are you walking home?”, Allison asked, in a disinterested tone, after what seemed like an eternity. 

Renee blinked. That wasn’t what she was expecting to hear at all.

“Hm, yes.”

“ Let me give you a ride. Actually, scratch that” While she talked, Allison was already opening the trunk of her car to throw her million shopping bags inside. “ Let’s go somewhere. My treat, obviously. You know, to thank you for kicking Seth out and for all those extra pastries.”

She finished storing away the bags and got in the driver’s seat before Renee was even done processing her words. Allison leaned over the console to open the door to the passenger’s side, too confident to consider the possibility of rejection, and raised an eyebrow at her, smiling.

“Well?”

Renee was not proud of how she practically ran towards the car and scrambled to climb in, clutching her shopping bag tightly. While Allison started the engine – her nails were once again matching her lipstick, blood red and long and perfect –, she  finally found her voice enough to say :

“I thought you didn’t know about the pastries.”

The corner of Allison’s lips quivered, like she was holding back a smile.

“What, you’re the only one who can know my order by heart?”

“I…” Renee considered saying that she memorized all of the regulars’ orders, but it felt like shooting herself in the foot, given the current situation. “It’s just. You never said anything.”

“Neither did you. I didn’t wanna get you in trouble with your manager or something.” Allison shrugged. “I don’t know how these things work, but I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to do that.”

Renee thought briefly of Dan’s insistence on sending Allison a heart shaped doughnut and smiled.

“Don’t worry, I got away with it pretty easily.”

“Do you always give extra stuff to girls at the café, then?”

There was a teasing edge to Allison’s question, and Renee looked at her just in time to catch those blue eyes stealing a glance at her before settling back on the street ahead. She wondered if her blush was as easy to see as it felt like. She wondered if Allison was flirting with her by inviting her out, or legitimately just trying to pay her back for the Seth thing in a completely platonic, “let’s be friends” way. She also wondered if lying was acceptable in that situation, but decided for a half-truth instead.

“Only when I noticed they’re sad. You looked like you could use a pick me up, some days.”

“Oh.” Was it her imagination, or was there really a note of disappointment on Allison’s voice there? “Was that the  _only_ thing you noticed about me?”

Renee couldn’t lie about that one even if she wanted to.

“I noticed lots of things about you”, she answered, quietly, carefully gauging Allison’s reaction. “You are very hard to miss.”

That seemed to please Allison greatly, judging by the catlike smile on her face and the way her long nails tapped against the steering wheel. Renee decided she’d say just about anything to get her to smile like that again, even if it meant looking like a fool herself.

“So I’ve been told” She stole another glance at Renee. “You’re not a wallflower, either, you know. There’s a reason I kept going to the same coffee shop all this time.”

The comment caught Renee completely off guard. Her heart did somersaults in her chest, and she clutched the shopping bag on her lap to keep her hands from shaking with the sudden confirmation that while she’d been noticing Allison, Allison had been noticing her, too. For a moment, all she could do was open and close her mouth dumbly like a fish, which seemed to amuse Allison, at least. 

“What? You can’t possibly be so surprised by this.”

Did Allison really think normal people considered the possibility of someone so pretty and unattainable being interested in them? She was probably used to everyone obsessing over her, looking like that, so she couldn’t understand what it was like to be a normal, insecure mortal.

“I never… It never occurred to me” Renee admitted. “That you could notice me, that is. Specially since I found out you had a boyfriend.”

Allison bit her bottom lip, considering.

“Seth wasn’t _always_ my boyfriend”, she said. “Not all the time  since I started going to the coffee shop, I mean. We broke up a lot. Got back together a lot.” She seemed to sense the worry that started infiltrating Renee’s thoughts at that. “That’s over now, though. For real, this time.”

Renee’s traitorous and selfish heart was happy to hear that, but she couldn’t help thinking of Allison’s smudged makeup, of how distant and upset she seemed when Seth wasn’t at the café with her.

“So that’s why you were so sad”, she said, quietly. “It was when you broke up with him.”

Much to her surprise, Allison laughed. It was a cynical, borderline mean sound, and Renee absolutely loved it.

“Oh, trust me, it was absolutely not like you’re thinking it was.” She shook her head, blonde curls bouncing with the movement in a hypnotic way. “I liked Seth alright, I suppose, and sure, it upset me to fight him so much. But I didn’t miss dating him in the way you would expect me to. Those days, I guess I was just second guessing, you know? Trying to figure out why I was investing so much time and energy on Seth, when I’d always known he wouldn’t be my  _always_ .”

It seemed so out of place, that confession, so different from Allison’s tone and attitude insofar, that Renee didn’t know how to react to it. Luckily, she had been so invested in the conversation she hadn’t noticed they had reached their destination; Allison parked the car and got out before Renee had a chance to say anything.

Renee couldn’t help but laugh when she saw that Allison had picked a coffee shop – much fancier then the one Renee worked at, and on a very different part of town she’d never been to before, sure, but the smell of coffee and pastries was unmistakable. Allison laughed with her.

“I know, I know. We’ve literally spent every moment since we first met in a coffee shop,  _et cetera, et cetera._ But I figured it’d be nice to be in one where you could sit down with me and not work, for a change.”

Renee turned to look at her, a smile still on her lips.

“I would like that very much, yes.”

The café was almost full, but  the line to order at the counter wasn’t very big. The barista knew Allison’s name, but not her order, and Renee tried not to feel a small bite of jealousy. Allison ordered for her the same way she’d ordered for Seth before, except this order involved a lot more pastries and a fancier coffee choice.  Usually, Renee wouldn’t be so thrilled about that, but for some reason she found that, with Allison, she didn’t mind.  Some of the pastries had been in the selection Renee had made for her a while ago.  It was sweet that  Allison remembered that, almost enough to distract Renee from the exorbitant prices on the menu above the counter.

Allison caught her looking and nudged her with her shoulder.

“Told you, I’m paying”, she reminded her. “It’s my thank you gift, after all.” 

“Looks like you come here a lot”, Renee said, because money was always a touchy subject to her and she didn’t know how to react to Allison’s ease discussing it. Allison shrugged.

“I used to. I live just around the corner, actually, and I don’t mind the prices. Haven’t been here for a while, though.”

She smiled at the last comment, and Renee couldn’t help but smile back.

“That’s a long way from where I work”, she remarked.

“So was the party I’d been to when I found you”, Allison replied, with a mischievous look on her face. “And then, well. What’s a little distance when you’ve got a car like mine and a pretty face like yours?”

They were interrupted by the barista calling Allison’s name, and hurried to get their order. They found a table near the windows, small enough that their knees almost touched under it. Renee noticed that Allison had really long legs, and that winter inappropriate dress did very little to hide them.

“I missed you”, Renee admitted, without thinking about it. She winced a little at Allison’s puzzled look. “Jesus, I didn’t- It’s just. I haven’t seen you in a while?”

Allison considered her with that distant manner Renee was starting to get used to.

“Yes, I suppose I’ve been kind of MIA lately.” She took a sip of her latte and delicately picked up a muffin from the plate. “ I meant what I said about Seth, that he wasn’t all that, and that I had no real feelings for him anymore, but…”

She trailed off, so Renee finished for her:

“You needed some time to process.”

She’d never been in a relationship, much less one like  _that,_ but it made sense. Allison nodded.

“I needed some time to process before I dove into something else, that is.”

Renee hoped the way her heart was rabbiting in her chest wasn’t obvious on the outside. She tried to remain calm while chewing on one of the doughnuts, but almost couldn’t swallow it, with how tight with anticipation and nerves and excitement her throat was. Somehow, she gathered enough strength to give a little smile while asking:

“Am  _I_ something else?”

It wasn’t even meant to sound flirtatious or smooth or whatever. Renee just needed to know, before she embarrassed herself any further by being completely delusional. 

This time, the look on Allison’s face wasn’t distance or analyzing in any way. It was intense, her blue eyes fixed on Renee’s. She put her elbows on the table and leaned forward, resting her chin on her interlaced fingers.

“I don’t know”, she said, teasingly. “Do you  _want_ to be?”

Renee couldn’t help her laughter.

“I thought it was obvious”, she admitted. “My friends have been teasing me about it for weeks. The way I look at you and talk about your all the time.”

“I though  _I_ was being obvious” Allison sighed. “All those skimpy clothes in the middle of winter, and for what? For you to notice how  _sad_ I was.”

She was taunting, Renee could tell. She feigned offense.

“Well, excuse me for doing my best at being polite and not objectifying you!”

“Is it still objectifying when I explicitly wanted you to do it? You can be polite  _and_ stare at my boobs at the same time, Renee.”

Automatically, Renee’s gaze drifted towards Allison’s cleavage, which the dress also didn’t do much to cover, but she immediately forced them back up. There was a time and a place for that, she told herself, and it wasn’t in the middle of a conversation in a coffee chop.

The thing was, Renee really liked the way Allison said her name. Really,  _really_ liked it.

“ I have a personal rule”, she said. “I only stare at women’s breasts after the second date.”

Allison raised an eyebrow at that, challenging and amused. Renee had a feeling she was used to this kind of flirtatious back and forth, and that it’d been a pleasant surprise for her that Renee was able to participate in it with her. When she spoke again, she sounded every inch as sure of herself as she’d been so far, but there was a new note of excitement on her voice.

“I can’t this week til Friday, but you can take me somewhere on Sunday. I know you get out of work earlier that day. And then you can stare at me all you want after that, right?”

Renee couldn’t tell which one was more surprising: that Allison was pretty much stating that this was their first date, that Allison had memorized her schedule, or that Allison, this amazing girl that had always looked so out of her reach until today, was actually inviting her out a second time. For a moment, she was speechless, too much happiness in her chest to allow the words to come out. Her gaze lingered on Allison’s red lips for a moment too long before she finally replied:

“Tell me what you like. I’ll make you the perfect date.”

Allison’s smile widened into a smug grin, and she knew it had been the right answer.

The conversation was easy after that, filled with enough innuendos to make it interesting, but not enough to stop them from talking about other things. Renee found that her and Allison had absolutely nothing in common, and it didn’t bother her in the least, because Allison was funny, and confident, and beautiful, and completely unashamed of who she was, and there was nothing Renee found more admirable. 

They had arrived at the coffee shop in the middle of the afternoon, but it was already past nightfall when they left. Allison took Renee’s hand on the way to the exit, and Renee tried to stop her heart from beating so freaking loud, to no avail. Not that she thought Allison would mind.

They sat in silence inside the car for a long minute, like neither of them wanted this to be over quite yet. Then Allison unbuckled her safety belt and turned so she could face Renee completely, looking almost ethereal in the dim light.

“I know you’d probably prefer some more romance”, she started. “But you know what, fuck it. I’ve waited long enough.”

And, just like that, she leaned over the central console, pulled Renee closer by her coat and kissed her.

Renee had never cared less about romance in her entire life, and that was saying something. She could taste the sugar of the pastries they just ate on Allison’s lips, the faint hint of coffee on her tongue, but what really got to her was all the rest – her smell, the taste of  _her,_ her hands, one on Renee’s coat, the other buried in Renee’s short hair, holding tight to her, Renee’s own hands resting on Allison’s waist. It was a wild and lovely kiss, and for the longest, most glorious minute, Renee’s entire world narrowed down to Allison, and she didn’t want it to ever end.

It had to, though, so eventually they pulled apart and stared at each other  in the dark. Renee removed a hand from Allison’s waist to touch her own lips, wondering if they were smeared with red lipstick, and Allison laughed breathlessly. Her pupils were blown wide, and her lipstick was smudged, and she had never looked more beautiful.

“That was messy”, she said. Then: “Do you have anywhere to be tonight?”

More than anything, Renee wanted to tell her no, she didn’t, she could stay, could go anywhere Allison wanted to go. But she had promised her mom she’d meet her for dinner, and, to be honest, she was already pretty late. Besides, she had work early in the morning.

“Sorry”, she murmured. “I have to go.”

Allison didn’t seem too phased about it. She tapped a finger against Renee’s lips, considering, and it took all of Renee’s self control not to open her mouth and suck on that finger. Mostly, she didn’t do it because she knew Allison might be into that, and she didn’t want to risk it. Her resolve was already weak as it was. If Allison wanted to make out with her more, Renee was pretty sure she would never make it back for dinner with her mom.

“I’ll drive you home”, Allison decided. Renee was learning that this was how she always did things: no questions asked, just her decisions, specially when it came to favors or paying for things.  _I will take care of you and there is nothing you can do to stop me,_ she seemed to say. It was a sharp contrast to her bitchy Barbie exterior. Renee thought it was sweet. “You probably have some rule about only fucking after the third date or something, anyway.”

Renee smiled. She could get used to that sort of amicable teasing.

“Second date usually does it for me.”

“God, I can’t wait til Sunday.”

Allison kissed her again outside Renee’s building, and Renee felt like she had slipped into a movie, one of her teenage fantasies she’d never really thought she’d get to live. She left the car with Allison’s phone number written on her hand and butterflies in her stomach in a way she hadn’t felt in a long, long time.

The next morning, when Renee got to work, Allison was already there. Renee stopped by her table for a quick “hello” (and another kiss, God bless) before making her way to the counter, where Dan and Andrew both stared at them, Dan excited and upset because Renee hadn’t updated her, Andrew looking bored and unwilling to admit he was waiting for Redhead Boy.

“How did you manage to get her?” Dan marveled, pointing at Allison in a not very discreet way. Renee shrugged, smiling. To be quite honest, she couldn’t believe it either.

“We met at the mall yesterday, and she took me out for coffee, of all things. And then it sorta… just happened.”

“It would’ve happened a lot sooner if you had just listened to me”, Andrew pointed out. Renee gave him an agreeable smile.

“Don’t rain on my parade, Andrew. Nothing can ruin my day today.”

A while later, Renee went to the back to prepare a few orders, and, when she came out, there was a plate with a single heart shaped doughnut on the counter. She looked around, thinking that maybe there was something wrong with the pastry and someone had returned it or something, until she heard Dan’s voice coming from behind her:

“It’s for you.”

Renee frowned.

“We can’t eat the food, Dan. You’re the manager. You know that.”

“This one’s been paid for, though” Smiling widely, Dan pointed over at the tables. “It’s a treat from the young lady over there.”

Renee shouldn’t have been surprised to see Allison smiling at her, holding a matching heart shaped doughnut in her perfectly manicured hand. She raised the pastry like she was making a toast and winked.

It was so unbelievably tacky, so ridiculously sappy. Renee raised her doughnut and toasted back. She was more than happy to be ridiculous and touchy-feeling, if it meant Allison would keep smiling at her like that.

**Author's Note:**

> Take a shot everytime I wrote "back to the counter" or "behing the counter" (don't, you'll die)
> 
> I have every intention of writing the Andrew/Neil thing one day (maybe when I'm in horrible pain again? idk), so. Stay tuned if that's something you'd be interested in!


End file.
